


Games Night

by JuweWright



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fred Weasley Lives, Gen, Musical References, Post-Hogwarts, References to Clue | Cluedo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 00:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16295213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuweWright/pseuds/JuweWright
Summary: Prompt:Someone tries to turn Cluedo into a magical game because the Muggle game is too dull for their tastes, and it backfires. It turns their immediate surroundings into the game. Each person suddenly finds themselves in clearly coloured outfits and they have to work out who did where and what with what limited resources they have available in order to beat the game. At first it’s all in good fun, but as secrets are revealed, they no longer know who they can trust, if anyone...





	Games Night

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [DramioneFanfictionForumHalloween2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DramioneFanfictionForumHalloween2018) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Someone tries to turn Cluedo into a magical game because the Muggle game is too dull for their tastes, and it backfires. It turns their immediate surroundings into the game. Each person suddenly finds themselves in clearly coloured outfits and they have to work out who did where and what with what limited resources they have available in order to beat the game. At first it’s all in good fun, but as secrets are revealed, they no longer know who they can trust, if anyone...

“Okay, so quick recap on the rules,” George said. 

There was a small group gathered around an old, battered dollhouse which had been placed on the floor of the upstairs area of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. George’s eyes wandered and took in Harry and Ginny who were snuggled up on a bunch of worn out pillows, Draco and Hermione who sat next to each other on the floor, their backs resting against the “Precious Potions” shelf. Draco’s hand casually rested on Hermione’s, as if it had just dropped there by accident. It made George smile a little. They were so used to hiding their relationship in public that even this small sign of companionship meant a lot in terms of how much they trusted their friends.

Luna had shown up a little late this night and was sitting cross legged right next to Fred, who was trying to disentangle her long blonde hair which had been attacked by an escaped Pygmy Puff.

“All of you will appear in this game as miniature versions of yourselves while your full size real version will be sleeping. I will be your host for the night, who sadly gets killed by one of you. The person who is the murderer will know the second they enter the game where and with which weapon they have to get rid of me. Once I am dead, I’ll be supervising the game from out here and make sure nothing untoward happens. The card-combination with the right answer is hidden in a box in the cellar and linked to the sleeping spell. Once the murder case is solved, you all get released from the spell and wake up. You have no wands and no magic abilities as your game-selves. To solve the case, you have to clearly state the weapon, the room and the murderer’s persona as described in the original game’s description which I handed you last week. Any questions?”

“Are there sheep?” Fred asked mischievously. 

During a previous round of “Magical Muggle-Games” his twin had almost been killed by his flock of sheep in Settlers of Catan.

“No sheep,” George said with a shudder. “And also no possibility to ruthlessly ruin everyone else by buying all the houses in the most expensive housing area and controlling all public transportation.”

Luna blushed. She had shown her surprising proficiency at being a mogul during a heated Monopoly game a few weeks ago.

“Also: If anyone breaks anyone else’s nose, please make sure you don’t do a splinter-fracture that forces us to take the target to the hospital again.”

Ginny had lost it during their very first games night and punched Draco in the face after he had returned her to the yard in ludo not once or twice but five times. George had taken notes of all the stuff that could go wrong if you “magically enhanced” Muggle games and him and Fred had had more than one discussion about whether or not it was safe to release their versions to the public. They seemed to come with more risks than they had expected. When emotions were involved, unexpected behaviour seemed to be a common side-effect.

The group nodded their approval and George handed out the potion-drops they had come up with to allow people to slip out of their sleeping bodies and into their game-selves.

In the next moment they were standing in the hallway of the dollhouse. The floor was painted wood that was supposed to look like black and white marble. The walls were covered in very ugly green-brown wallpaper and art nouveau lamps lightened the scene.   


“Beautiful”, Draco said sarcastically, checking out his apparel in one of the mirrors. “Yellow always favours my skin tone.”

“Ohhh, you’re Colonel Mustard” Hermione said, appearing next to him. She looked amazing in her long red dress. Draco sighed. Why did Colonel Mustard wear a yellow uniform? Nobody ever wore a yellow uniform! Not in all of history! He looked like a clown. He looked like Ludo Bagman on a particularly adventurous day. A look around at the other players revealed George in white tie, obviously acting as the host to this strange party. Fred wore a neckcloth that marked him as a priest even though his attire wasn’t the expected black but a rather shiny green which let his red hair look even more fiery than usual. 

“Merlin’s pants, Luna, you look like a ghost!” Ginny squeaked noticing the girl in the white, frilly dress and an equally white apron next to her. 

Ginny’s blue pencil skirt and blouse made her look about a dozen years older than she was. Harry, dressed in a badly fitted purple suit, looked like a schoolboy next to her. 

“Welcome, welcome to my humble abode,” George announced. “Feel free to explore the rooms at your leisure. Dinner is at eight. Of course there’s no actual dinner because all the food in here is made of paper or wood, but just pretend this is a real party and you’re the guests tonight. Enjoy yourselves!”

Everyone’s eyes darted to the grandfather clock in the corner. It was six thirty now. When George turned around to walk out of the hallway, the cards of their characters flashed in front of the players’ ‘eyes for a split second. 

Harry stood rigid, when he heard a voice, seemingly coming from nowhere, that announced  **“Professor Plum, with the revolver, in the conservatory”** . Just when he was about to say something about it, he realized that this was part of the game, not a Basilisk, speaking in parseltongue, just the game telling him quietly how he had to kill George’s character.

Suddenly the voice became louder, audible to all contestants now, it started to sing, reverberating like a ghostly choir.

 

**_Walk to a door dare to step through_ **

**_Truth lies inside well hidden from view_ **

**_Not every room will fit the bill_ **

**_one's marked for death it’s time to kill_ **

 

**_Corridors and halls a winding hidden stair_ **

**_a secret passageway leads somewhere_ **

**_Each room so rare a true work of art_ **

**_with trapdoors in the floors and bookshelves that part_ **

**_Corridors and halls a mansion full of doom_ **

**_One of us must choose one corpse one room_ **

~~~

 

“There’s a library,” Hermione announced. “I want to see the library.”

Draco laughed and took her arm.

“Allow me to escort you, milady?”

They walked up the stairs and through the huge double doors into the beautiful old-fashioned library. Shelves bent under the weight of the books, ladders leaned against them to allow access to the volumes on the higher boards. There was a plushy red carpet on the floor and huge windows lined one of the walls. A fire was crackling in an open fireplace. It was quite a stunning scenery. 

Hermione grinned and turned around to face her boyfriend. They had been dating for a while now, after she had finally broken up with Ron, who still wasn’t quite over the rejection and therefore wasn’t joining them on games evenings on behalf of everyone’s sanity. A lead pipe was lying on one of the tables and Draco lifted it with a frown.

“You know something I don’t really understand?” he asked his girlfriend. “Why everyday devices? The revolver makes total sense, but why would someone commit a murder with a lead pipe?”

Hermione shrugged her shoulders and let her fingers run down his back seductively.

“I have absolutely no idea. I guess in case you get really angry, any bloody thing will do as a weapon.”

She hesitated and turned her head, listening.

“Ohh, do you hear that?”

There was music coming from somewhere nearby.

“We must be close to the ballroom” Hermione noted excitedly. “Let’s have a look!”

She took his hand and marched towards the doors to their left. The music became louder and as they entered the ballroom, which was bigger than Hermione had expected and less glamorous than Draco had bargained for, they found there was an enchanted grand piano playing a tango.

“Awesome,” Hermione said, grinning. “I think George found out about the musical.”

Draco looked bewildered.

“What musical?”

“There’s a musical, sweetheart. A show about this game. It has all the characters and some smashing music. It wasn’t a big hit, but I quite like it.”

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into a ballroom hold. Draco shook his head and laughed about her childishness before he began to lead her across the room. They were good dancing partners. Actually, he still believed he had won her over by being much more proficient in dancing than Ronald the Weasel would ever be (apart from the fact that Ronald the Weasel was pretty much an idiot in gentlemanlike behaviour in general). Hermione was a great dancer. He had known that ever since the Yule Ball and had always hoped he’d one day get the chance to lead her to the dance floor. It had only taken about ten years until he had finally seized his chance at a charity event. 

He led her into a fierce turn and she twisted and stopped in a quick and hard motion that suited the music quite well. Then she leaned closer and he could hear her sing the words to the song while her hand went up into his hair, then down his spine. She twisted her leg around his and leaned far back into his arms.

_ “Everyday devices / have enterprising uses/ when they’re in the right hands / but for the wrong reasons / delightfully delicious these dangerous abuses / when they’re in the right hands but for the wrong reasons / If we were to really do it, any household item would be good enough to fight’em / Just as long as I’m with you / Any grisly gadget would most definitely do.” _

He couldn’t help it, she was the most seductive, beautiful witch he ever beheld and that red dress didn’t make her any less attractive - on the contrary. He pulled her back towards him, her body flush against his, and saw a smile flash across her face when she noticed how very turned on he was.

“Does this damned house have any bedrooms?” he asked quietly. 

She shook her head.

“Damn,” he murmured. 

~~~

 

George woke up in his own body after Harry had done the deed of killing his game-self. He’d altered the potion for himself a little bit so his liveless miniature body would remain in the house and allow the others to find out how the murder had happened. He stretched his limbs and looked down at the dollhouse, checking how the other players were faring. 

Harry had walked into the dining room and was talking to Ginny now, who looked very flushed. So he was probably flirting with her. George let his eyes roam a bit further. Luna was in the kitchen with Fred. Hermione and Draco… ugh… he quickly focussed back on Luna and his brother. 

~~~

 

“I really hate this” Luna exclaimed, banging her small fists against one of the shelves in the kitchen. 

The shelf was made of real wood, but it wasn’t attached to the wall properly, so it crashed to the floor with all the fake glassware that had been stored in it rolling all across the floor.

Fred sighed. He absent-mindedly went for his wand, but realized he didn’t carry one in this game-world. Damn, they’d have to clean up that mess by hand. Or leave it there… Yeah, leaving it there was probably the best option.

“When we met, I liked him. He was a good friend. But he’s become so much more than that. he was so kind to me and he always invites me along to everything and sends me letters and is all sweet and nice and… I don’t know what your sister has that I don’t have! He doesn’t even seem to see me at all!”

She looked so sad and disheartened, that Fred didn’t know what else to do but offer her a shoulder to cry on. He didn’t even know how this had happened. One second they had been in the hallway, next second they had been searching the kitchen in the hopes that George had been wrong about there being no proper food, because they both felt peckish and now here Luna Lovegood was, confessing her undying feelings for Harry Potter. Great! Somehow this game-idea wasn’t quite as funny as the twins had thought it would be. Their previous attempts at magically enhancing Muggle games had led to injuries, fights and one almost break-up between Harry and Ginny. Games were never unemotional. But if they became life-sized, it seemed like the emotions grew with them. 

Luna cried in big sobs on his shoulder as the old dollhouse creaked around them. What a game! 

“You understand, don’t you?” she asked suddenly, lifting her head from his shoulder. 

Fred tried to shrug nonchalantly but failed. Oh, bloody boggart, why did she have to be so perceptive? 

“I’ve seen the way you look at Hermione” Luna said. “You like her. More than like her.”

“What’s not to like?” he responded coolly “She’s brilliant.”

“And she doesn’t see you. She saw your brother. She sees Draco. She doesn’t see you, not really. She sees the funny guy who is her ex’s brother and a good friend, but she doesn’t see you as an individual, a man, a potential someone.”

Why was this woman always so spot-on? She seemed so out-of-it so enrapt in her dream world most of the time. How was it even possible that she had noticed him pining over Hermione when he thought he’d hidden it quite well from everyone else? He was sure not even George had any idea how long he’d been dreaming about the brilliant, little, brown-haired witch.

“She also only sees me in a package with George, I believe,” he nodded, trying to sound casual. 

He pulled open another drawer and revealed a solemn bar of chocolate - which was made of paper. This game sucked!

“You know what?” he said “I really don’t feel like playing tonight, so we should end this as quickly as we can. Let’s go search the rooms, see where the corpse is and figure out how it got there. You go left, I go right, you call me as soon as you find it, I’ll do the same.”   


Luna nodded, sniffling and rubbing at her eyes.

~~~

 

George was confused. The game was behaving weirdly and he didn’t know why. The whole dollhouse had started to glow with a strange purple light. He was sure that this was not part of any spell they had cast on it and his attempts to stop it with the usual charms had all failed. What was going on?

 

~~~

 

Draco and Hermione walked into the dining room, both a little flushed, both a little out of breath. Harry rolled his eyes. 

“Are you serious?” he inquired. “In a dollhouse? Without bedrooms? Do I even want to know?”

Draco smirked and winked.

“You might want to know, but I am not telling you. Secrets of the trade, Potter. I’m not sharing with just anyone.”

Hermione giggled. It was a very un-Hermione-like sound. Sometimes Harry wondered if the relationship with Draco had a bad influence on his best friend’s brain. Draco walked over to Ginny and put his arm around her shoulders.

“Gin, I’ve found out there’s a billiard room next door. Hermione hates it and I know Harry sucks at it. Are you up for a good old Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match?”

Ginny grinned.

“With you in a second” she announced. “Be prepared to lose, Malfoy!”

As Draco and Hermione left the room, Ginny turned back to Harry with fluttering eyelids.

“You know, these two can give you ideas,” she murmured, shoving him against the wall and unclasping his bowtie before trailing a series of small kisses over his face and down his neck.

From the half-open door Luna watched the red-head rub herself against the dark haired man and felt sick. Why could Ginny have what she never could have? 

 

**_It doesn’t have to be like this._ **

 

Where did that voice come from? 

 

**_He’s not worthy of you if he likes that girl. He’s been letting you on._ **

 

It sounded like the voice that had started the game, but this time Luna was pretty sure, she was the only one who could hear it. 

 

**_Walk to the door! Dare to step through! You can end this! You can make him suffer!_ **

 

She held her breath as a plan suddenly surfaced in her brain bright and clear as day and so logical!

Ginny had vanished into the billiard room. Luna’s chance had come. Harry was still leaning against the wall, breathing a little harder than usual. When she came in, he tried to compose himself.

“Luna!”

“Harry,” she said calmly, walking over to his side of the long wooden table.

“Did you… I mean… I am sorry if Ginny and I…”

“Oh, you’re sorry?” she said sarcastically. “For what are you sorry, Harry? For all those years that you had me pining over you and never once even considered we might be a match? For all these times I had to watch you kiss the red-head when I wanted nothing more than to have your lips on mine just once?”

Harry stared at her.

“Luna? I… I didn’t know! You never said… I… Why? How?”

Her hands were shaking as they clasped one of the candle sticks from the table. It was surprisingly heavy.

~~~

 

George stared at the scene in the dining room with horror in his eyes. This was not what was supposed to happen! This was not how they had set up the game! Why was Luna running amok? Why was this happening? The house was still glowing with the purple light. Something was wrong. Something about this spell was bad. He didn’t know what and why, but this was getting out of hand. No, this had already gotten out of hand. Of course they had built in safety precautions, there was a spell that should end the game immediately and wake all of them up. But he had cast that spell three times already and it had led to nothing. It seemed to bounce off the purple aura. He had also tried to just reach into the house with his hands and had come back with bad burns on his fingertips.

“Merlin’s pants!” he shouted in frustration right when Luna hit Harry on the head with the candlestick. 

The miniature version of his friend fell like a tree, crimson red blood trickling from a head wound. George pulled out a small piece of parchment, quickly scribbled a note and dropped it into the house’s hallway.  He didn’t even have time to take another breath before the next horror-scene occured right in front of his eyes.

~~~

 

“Slytherin beats Gryffindor, just as usual!” Draco exclaimed in his best announcer’s voice, smiling over at Ginny who stared daggers at the hole that he had just let the black ball roll into. 

Then suddenly, her face changed from her usual playful anger to true wrath. With a single fluent motion, she turned on her heel, produced a spanner from god-knows-where and flanked over the billiard table. In seconds she was on him, a furious athletic little ball of hate, screaming at the top of her lungs how much she despised Slytherin and everyone who had anything to do with that darned house.

He reacted on instinct, taking his queue by the thin end and swinging it around. It hit Ginny on the back of her head, her eyes rolled and she sunk down unconscious in Draco’s arms. 

“What the hell, Ginny?” he shook his head. 

If this was part of the game, it was definitely the weirdest game he had ever played. Ginny was his friend. They had been mates for a couple of years now and she was like a sister to him. So was this game supposed to turn people against each other? He had to ask Hermione about it. 

As he walked out into the hallway, he almost bumped into Luna, who looked completely disheveled and more than a little terrified.

“Draco!” she shouted. “Stay away from me! I am a murderer! I don’t know how it happened. But I just killed Harry. There was a voice in my head. And it told me… This is terrible. George! George! Get us out of here! Harry’s bleeding! He needs medical attention! And I can’t even use a healing spell here!”

She was shaking with panic. Draco tried to make sense out of what she was saying, but it sounded like she had just gone completely mad - which wasn’t too far fetched. It was Luna after all. But then he thought about Ginny and how she had suddenly gone wild.

“What did you try to kill Harry with?” he enquired, taking the thin blonde girl by the shoulders. “What did you use?”

“A candlestick,” she sobbed. “I used a candlestick”. 

Draco nodded. The game! Something had gone wrong with the game. And now everyone was trying to kill everyone else.

“George” he shouted, waving his arms, hoping that their Games-Master would notice. “GET. US. OUT. OF. HERE!”

Just when he had shouted that, he noticed what looked like a dirty tablecloth lying in a corner of the hallway. He walked over and unfolded it. It was a huge piece of parchment onto which someone had scribbled a note. The handwriting looked like George’s.

_ Game’s gone rabid. Please try not to kill each other. I’m getting help. _

~~~

 

Hermione had gone back to the library. She wasn’t too keen on the whole “whodunnit” routine and more interested in which books were stacked on the shelves and whether they were the real thing or some mockup. To her delight, they were all miniature versions of the real books and mainly featured the classics. She wasn’t surprised to see Fred wander in a little later. 

“Ah, Hermione,” he said, smiling and pulling at his slightly too long red hair. “Did you see Luna anywhere? I’ve shouted, but she didn’t answer. I found the body in the study. Looks like somebody shot the poor guy. So the only clue we’re short on is who did it and we can probably find that out quite quickly. What do you think?”

She sighed and leaned back in her armchair.

“I guess we can rule out Draco and me… we were… otherwise occupied,” she said, reminiscing their time in the ballroom.

“I really don’t know how you can be with that Death Eater,” Fred blurted out regretting it the same second. 

Hermione shot up from her seat, a sudden rage welling up inside her.

 

**_That idiot has learned nothing. He’s just as stupid as the rest of those morons who don’t see that people can change. And grow. Get rid of him! He’s just a nuisance!_ **

 

She didn’t even know where the rope in her hand suddenly came from. She just knew it’d come in quite handy if she wanted to strangle Fred. Usually, the Weasley twin would have been able to twist out of her grip easily, but it seemed as if she was stronger than she had thought, because he couldn’t move an inch. She pulled the rope tighter.

“Hermione!” he shouted in panic. “Please don’t do this! I’m sorry I said that about Draco. I don’t actually think he’s evil. I just hate him because he gets to be with you and I don’t.”

She stopped in her motion, actively working against the spirits that seemed to urge her to end his fate right there and then.

“What do you mean?” she said flabbergasted.

“I love you, Hermione Granger!” Fred whimpered. “And even if you kill me now that won’t change anything.”

~~~

 

“Weasley? Are you aware what time it is?”

“Fully aware, Professor McGonagall, but I have an emergency here and you were the first person I thought about who might be skilled enough to help me out. I think Hermione talked to you about our idea of magically enhanced Muggle games. Well… something went wrong. very wrong. And I am not sure I will get them out alive.”

“Give me ten seconds, Weasley, I need to get my wand.”

~~~

 

Draco and Luna had gone looking for the others. Draco’s head was throbbing. This was not a normal headache. It was the game trying to get into his head, trying to convince him that stabbing Luna with a dagger in the study would be quite an excellent idea. But why would he want to stab her? They had never had issues. They had never been best friends, but neither had they been enemies, even though she’d harboured a dislike against him for a while after the imprisonment in Malfoy Manor.

He noticed that his feet had automatically led him to the study door and physically strained against the invisible force that wanted him to cross the threshold. There would be no more injuries tonight. They had to find a way to break the spell. It seemed as if George had lost control of the game, so it was up to the players to find a way out. He needed Hermione to brainstorm. She’d come up with an idea. And perhaps Fred would be helpful es well. After all, he had been involved in the development of the game. 

He cursed when the headache became even worse as he slowly walked past the study door and towards the library. Whatever was happening here, it was strong magic, strong and dark. He could sense the same tingling sensation he had felt when looking at some of the objects at Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley. 

“Listen, Luna,” he said, sweat starting to appear on his forehead. “In case I suddenly go all Frankenstein’s monster on you, I want you to run. Run as quick as you can and get Hermione and Fred together. I am not sure if I can hold up against the house much longer and it’s kind of adamant about me having to kill you.”

Luna nodded. Having been under the influence herself, she knew what it meant. Her face was pale and serious. She reached out and grabbed Draco’s hand.

“You’re going to fight it,” she said with a trustful smile. “If anyone can, you can.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. Together, they stepped into the library to find Hermione staring down at Fred. A thick rope was still wound around his neck and there were clear red strangulation marks.

“Merlin!” Draco sighed. “Did it get you, too?”

~~~

 

“Where did you get this dollhouse, Weasley?” 

“Bought it in a Muggle thrift shop, because it had all the necessary rooms.”

“It looks somewhat familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

Professor McGonagall, wearing a long blue nightgown and sporting a pair of fluffy pink slippers was kneeling  between the sleeping forms of the players in front of the glowing house and inspected it from all sides.

“A Muggle store you say?”

“Yeah. Down in Covent Garden. It had about two inches of dust on it. Had clearly been sitting there forever.”

She shook her head, eyes closed, a thoughtful frown between her brows, then she nodded.

“I think you might have found a long lost object of dark magic. Which is unfortunate, because you also trapped your family and friends in there. But we’ll see about that.”

She started murmuring an enchantment and pointed her wand at the glowing dollhouse. Nothing happened.

“This might become interesting” the old woman stated. “Fingers crossed, Weasley.”

~~~

 

“We need to get the right combination,” Draco decided, pacing up and down in the library. “The combination of the original murder and the confession. They should unlock the house and make it possible for us to return to our own bodies.”

“And how are we supposed to get that confession?” Hermione asked, looking around. “I mean, Draco and I were in the ballroom when it happened, you two were having that weird one-on-one in the kitchen that you are so hush-hush about. So… it must have been Harry or Ginny. And they’re both out cold.”

“Can’t we just… cheat?” Luna suggested.

“You mean... “ Fred rubbed his neck and thought for a moment. “I guess we could go down to the cellar, get the cards out of the box and break the spell with that.”

“Good,” Draco said, wondering if it would look too weird if he started banging his head against a nearby wall. This headache would be the end of him. “Let’s do that!”

Just when he turned towards the doors, a purple light appeared on the doorframe. It spread along the walls and onto the shelves. An angry, wordless whisper became audible. He reached out for the handle and was hit by a force that threw him halfway across the room.

“Ouch” Luna said, helping him up. “I guess someone doesn’t want us to leave.”

“Guess what” Fred stated. “I really don’t care. Hermione almost killed me. I want to get out of here.”

A book flew from one of the shelves and smacked him on the head.

“What the…?”

Before he could finish his sentence, hell broke loose. Books were flying everywhere, shelves were rattling, falling. Next thing he knew, he was trapped under one of the heavy bookshelves with Luna by his side.

“Draco! Hermione! It’s up to you!” he shouted.

The couple exchanged a glance and ran for the door to the study. The glow hadn’t reached that wall yet. They made it into the other room - where Draco’s eyes automatically darted to the dagger lying on the desk and he almost heaved from the pain behind his forehead - then out into the hallway, down the stairs. 

~~~

 

“Merlin’s bloody striped pyjamas!” Professor McGonagall exclaimed. “Why is none of this working?”

George sighed.

“I have a slight idea.”

“And that would be?”

“We kind of locked this game up from the inside. They need to find the solution to the riddle and THEN they can get out.”

The older witch stared at her former pupil.

“So you think?”

“The house is using our part of the spell for its own purposes.”   


“You are aware that your friends are in grave danger, aren’t you? This is no longer a stupid game. I wouldn’t be too certain that the blood-loss Potter has suffered from his head wound isn’t actually real.”

“What exactly is the story behind this house?” George enquired. 

Professor McGonagall looked worried. 

“Not a good one” she responded. “Once, there was a rich family in south England. They lived in a mansion that looked just like this dollhouse. And they lived a more or less happy life. The oldest son fell in love with a girl he met in town. She was beautiful, but penniless and his parents did not approve of the match. Nonetheless he pursued her and told her he’d love her forever. Of course he had no intention of doing so. Instead, when a rich heiress came his way, he married her almost on the spot and left his former mistress behind broken hearted. She wasn’t just a random town girl though. She was a very talented witch. And in her fury and pain, she turned to the Dark Arts to make her former lover’s life miserable. She built a dollhouse that looked just like the mansion and she bewitched it so anything she’d do to the model would be reflected in real life. She was very powerful. It’s not a spell that many people could even have attempted. When the man’s wife became pregnant, she waited out her time and killed her when she was about to give birth. She also killed the child. The man was struck with grief, but he remarried after a few years just to see his new wife wither away when she got a strange and inexplicable illness.”

She sighed.

“Sometimes evil manifests itself, becomes its own entity. Especially when bound to a thing, it can thrive and grow even after the wizard or witch who created it has already died.”

George stared at the mansion massaging his temples..

“It’s a death trap. I put my friends in a death trap.”

“You couldn’t have known. You bought it in a Muggle store. I believe you did so to avoid just such a scenario.”

“I wanted to avoid any foreign magic mingling with mine and Fred’s” George nodded. “Well look how fine that turned out. I don’t even know how our revelation charm didn’t detect this. Oh look at what it’s doing in the library now! Fred! Did that shelf hit him? I can’t see him anymore.”

Professor McGonagall sighed as she watched Hermione’s and Draco’s miniature forms escape the conundrum.

“Let’s hope our clever Miss Granger and cunning Mr Malfoy can undo your part of the spell. As soon as we have them all out of there, I’ll see to the house itself.”

~~~

 

Lead pipe. There was a lead pipe lying in the dark corridor. Draco’s head started pounding again and before he knew it he was hefting the heavy tool in his right hand like a club. Hermione was running in front of him, bushy hair flowing, breathing hard.

It would be so easy to knock her out. So easy to make her tumble and fall. So easy…. damn Malfoy, put that pipe down now! 

With a sheer impossible effort, he let the pipe drop to the floor. Hermione turned on her heel when she heard the clanking. Her eyes darted from Draco to the pipe back to Draco and her eyes widened.

“Keep running!” Draco shouted. “It’s not getting me. It’s already tried twice now. And it’s not going to get lucky the third time!”

They turned a corner to where a huge box was standing in the middle of a dusty room that smelled of mold.

“All right, let’s do this!” Hermione puffed. 

The air seemed to get more and more mouldy by the second. The house was withdrawing the oxygen from the room.

In unison, they lifted the lid off the box and revealed the three cards that were bigger than their game-selves. Draco turned the first one around.

“Weapon: The revolver!” he shouted.

Hermione turned the second one. She felt a little dizzy.

“Murder Scene: The observatory!” she said.

Together they pulled out the last card and turned it right face up.

“Professor Plum!” they exclaimed. “Harry’s character was the murderer!”

~~~

 

The house didn’t seem to be too happy to let go of its inhabitants. It took much longer for them to return to their sleeping bodies than it had taken to leave them, but George breathed a sigh of relief when all of them - even a very pale looking Harry - opened their eyes in unison.

The dollhouse on the floor was vibrating, glowing stronger and stronger, the whispering voice now audible even to their normal ears.

_ Kill! Kill! _

“Mr Weasley, unless you are very keen on losing your eyebrows, I’d recommend you lean back!” Professor McGonagall shouted and lifted her wand.

A green light broke free from its tip and enveloped the house. The green and purple glow seemed to fight with each other, swirling in and out and around each other without ever mixing properly, the vibration became stronger as Professor McGonagall’s frown deepened. She looked quite intimidating - if it was possible to look intimidating when you were wearing pink slippers and a blue nightgown.

“Incendio!” she said, calm but authoritative. 

The house went up in a burst of flames, a proper explosion, that let it burst into a million tiny pieces which rained down in a radius of at least six feet.

George and Fred looked up to their former head of house and down to the scorched bit of floor which was all that was left of the bewitched dollhouse.

“Wicked!” they stated in unison.

 

The elderly witch sighed with relief and put her wand back into her pocket.

“I guess we can all go back home and have a good night’s sleep now,” she noted. “And I need you to promise me something.”

The twins looked at the floor, shuffling their feet.

“We will not do these games evenings ever again,” George began.

“Promise,” Fred added. “Too much emotional humbug happening.”

He glanced over at Hermione who caught his gaze and seemed more than a little confused.

Minerva McGonagall shook her head.

“That wasn’t what I was going to ask. I don’t want you to stop doing those evenings. The idea is delightful and what happened here wasn’t any of your fault.”

She smiled.

“I’d like to get a notification the next time you plan a games night though. I would love to be a part of these gatherings.”

The twins first looked confused, then pleasantly surprised. Fred held out his hand.

“Deal,” he said, shaking Minerva’s hand. “But we’re not playing nice just because you were our teacher once.”   
  


 

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> The rhymed bits are from the "Clue" musical which truly exists.


End file.
